Blood of Despair, Shine of Hope
by Alicia Jewel
Summary: A mysterious poem found in the diary of a caravan. [Warning: Kind of morbid. Okay, REALLY morbid.]


**Story Title:** Blood of Despair, Shine of Hope  
**Author:** Alicia Jewel  
**Summary:** A mysterious poem found in the diary of a caravan. (Warning: Kind of morbid. Okay, REALLY morbid.)

_Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles or any of its characters, places, or events. No profit is made from the writing and posting of this fiction._

_Copyright: I do, however, own the poem/story itself as well as the unnamed characters at the end. This may only be posted by Alicia Jewel on Fanfiction dot net unless given express written permission from the author._

By night the village peacefully slept  
Safe and sound in their dreams  
But meanwhile monsters prowled about  
Plotting their villainous schemes

In light children played without a care  
While their parents watched from afar  
The monsters, however, did different things  
Performed rituals so bizarre

The world was young and barely touched  
Pure air cut the skies  
The people knew nothing of turmoil and hate  
And there were no such things as lies

But one day a crystal shattered the stars  
And left a scar in the earth  
Its radiance, its beauty was a sight to see  
One would think it was filled with mirth

That night, however, something occurred  
That altered the line of history  
A mysterious gas covered the skies  
Its presence and use a mystery

It was then that the monsters showed themselves  
And tore through the village gate  
The people fought back with all their might  
But the beasts had sealed their fate

Crimson red stained the once perfect dirt  
The children screamed in fear  
As they were backed into the wall  
Knowing the end was near

The very few who survived the night  
Felt a sudden change in the air  
What they breathed in was suddenly poisonous  
They screamed out in despair

"Somebody help us, please, oh, please!  
Before we die where we stand!"  
But nobody could hear their terrible screams  
It became more than they could withstand

When a party finally did arrive  
After a long, gruesome week  
They found that they had arrived much too late  
The disaster had reached its peak

Many wondered how they survived  
When the village had died from the air  
The party revealed their life-saving source:  
"A piece of the crystal," they were said to declare

"It pushed away that terrible poison  
And protected all those nearby!"  
And sure enough, as many discovered  
It was their savior from the sky

"But I fear that its power is not unlimited  
Something must be done  
So that it may regain its incredible luster  
Before its power becomes none!"

People spent months searching the land  
For something to power the shine  
Lo and behold, the crystal responded  
To liquid from a regular pine

This formed into a ritual  
And now, every year  
In order to rid the world of this miasma  
For crystal caravans we volunteer

I am a warrior of this time  
Where the poison lurks so near  
That we cannot go anywhere without a chalice  
To hold our crystal so dear

We brave the darkest dungeons we find  
For at the end are the trees of our goal  
A few drops of myrrh is all we need  
To save many a soul

And now the people can live in peace  
As we protect their home  
From the beasts and the poison of miasma  
And all the evil that dares to roam

But my greatest hope is that one day soon  
The air will be clean again  
The children can run and play all day  
And finally be free of pain

* * *

This poem was found in the diary of a caravan that was found dead near Rebena Te Ra. This was their last entry, and the only other entry said "We are soldiers striving for peace." Nobody could identify their bodies, nor did anybody report a missing caravan. They were buried near the location in which they had died. The author of this poem is still unknown, but it has become famous across the world. An unknown person eventually titled it "Blood of Despair, Shine of Hope."

**The End**

_If you guys think I should try to make a story out of this (which might be kind of hard since I'm already working on my other FFCC story, Pen and Paper), go ahead and say so. If this poem sucks and should burn, feel free to say that, too! It took a while to write, but I'm not totally proud of it. Just don't flame. If you want it to burn, say so in the nicest way possible._

_Also, if I misspelled anything, please alert me of such! I used a crappy word processor to write this._


End file.
